Despite the past few years being a challenge for many fintech companies, Gain.pro has been doubling down on growth and seen retention figures north of 130%. The private market intelligence platform now serves the biggest names in private equity, M&A and consulting. 

Highlighting Gain.pro’s success over the past few years, FinanceFWD, an esteemed German magazine that reports on fintech and banking, featured our story in their publication.

Read the full article in English below to learn how Gain.pro is championing the private market intelligence game, with insights directly from Gain.pro co-founder, Nicola Ebmeyer. For the original German version, read the article on FinanceFWD.

How Gain.pro aims to become the Bloomberg for medium-sized businesses

“In the current funding downturn, a profitable business model is crucial. What has proven challenging for many fintechs, the Amsterdam-based analytics service Gain.pro has already accomplished.

The past year has been marked by grim news for fintech: losses, waves of layoffs and bankruptcies dominated the headlines. Those who couldn't navigate through the funding drought with previously established capital cushions had to present investors with a profitable business model. Many startups failed at this hurdle.

Even prominent fintech players like Klarna or N26 either just managed to break even or are still struggling to reach profitability. However, there are exceptions, and the Amsterdam-based private market intelligence service Gain.pro is one of them. Co-founder Nicola Ebmeyer shares with FinanceFWD how they accomplished this.

Bloomberg for medium-sized businesses

In 2018, Ebmeyer was on a very good career path at McKinsey – but despite some trying to convince her otherwise, she decided instead to co-found Gain.pro. She was convinced that her model would fill a significant market gap. In her consulting job, she has worked in the banking sector and gained insights into the due diligence work of investors – particularly in the context of M&A transactions.

These analyses involve a comprehensive examination of all aspects of a company before an investment deal. They require in-depth insights, ranging from ownership structures to financial metrics, employee statistics and competitive comparisons.

For large publicly traded companies, such information is easily accessible through research platforms. However, for privately held firms, the information landscape is thin, as Ebmeyer reports. "The research work was extremely time-consuming, and there were no providers who offered all the necessary data in one place." So, she founded Gain.pro, a platform that aggregates company data for all businesses with over ten employees – a kind of Bloomberg for the medium-sized business sector.

Today, major players like Goldman Sachs, Blackrock, KKR, BCG, McKinsey and the "Big Four" use the service for investment decisions in private equity or in the context of M&A deals. "In addition, we always see new use cases," says Ebmeyer. "Some use our service, for example, for competitive research or even in headhunting for executives."

The core model consists of two components: where possible, the company pulls in public information through interfaces, such as from company registers or announcement platforms, and uses artificial intelligence to process and enrich it. Where AI reaches its limits, a team of analysts continues, evaluating qualitative information from sources like newspaper articles or social media. In addition, the company conducts expert interviews and surveys c-level executives – which, according to Ebmeyer, contribute to Gain.pro’s proprietary intel and provide the company with a competitive advantage.

100% revenue growth

According to their own statements, the company has on average grown by more than 100% every year since 2018. Today, the annual recurring revenue is in the double-digit millions, as Ebmeyer reveals to FinanceFWD. At the same time, the company has managed to operate its European core markets profitably with a gross profit margin of 75%, similar to that of large Software-as-a-Service players.

Ebmeyer believes they succeeded because they acted against the mainstream early on. During the boom years of 2021/2022, when financing rapid growth with high losses was en vogue, Gain.pro had already invested more conservatively. "Many VCs wanted to convince us to invest more money back then," says Ebmeyer. "However, the healthy and sustainable growth of Gain.pro was more important to us."

The numbers vindicate their approach today. And Gain.pro aims to continue its growth. So far, the company has primarily covered the European market – this year, the plan is to expand into the United States. Ebmeyer sees further opportunities there: "It is the largest M&A market globally with significantly more risk-taking investors," she says. "Moreover, unlike Europe, there is one large market with only one single regulation." However, the expansion doesn't stop there: "Our clear goal is to offer a global product," says the founder."

Written by Charlotte Rick, Editor at FinanceFWD